Trapped by Safety? Fire Doors, Accessibility and Policy Tensions in Housing

This report from the University of Stirling warns that fire safety measures in housing - while designed to protect - risk leaving older and disabled people effectively trapped in their own homes. Without clear national guidance, professionals are left navigating a fragmented system that too often prioritises fire safety at the expense of accessibility.

Drawing on interviews with housing and health professionals across Scotland, this study reveals that heavy, self-closing fire doors, which are required by law to contain fire, are creating daily barriers for residents with mobility issues. For wheelchair users and older people experiencing reduced strength and mobility, simply opening their front door can be exhausting, unsafe, or impossible.

“Fire trumps accessibility,” one housing manager told researchers.

While technical adaptations such as automatic door openers exist, the report highlights that these are often expensive, difficult to fund, and practically challenging to deliver without compromising fire safety certification. What happens then in reality is that some residents reject these adaptations altogether, preferring to wedge doors open rather than being trapped (despite the fire risk) and because they can feel clinical and stigmatizing, turning homes into spaces that resemble hospital corridors.

The report calls for urgent national leadership to resolve these tensions. It sets out five key recommendations:

A national multi-agency forum to align fire safety, accessibility, and housing policy.
Better training and education across housing, health, and design professions, including awareness of the Equality Act 2010.
Sharing good practice through real-world examples of accessible fire door adaptations.
Centralised advice hubs to reduce costs and confusion for professionals.
Putting residents’ voices at the heart of design and decision-making - learning from the lessons of Grenfell.

The report warns that without national co-ordination professionals are left to interpret complex and sometimes conflicting regulations that lead to inconsistent outcomes and missed opportunities to improve older and disabled residents’ quality of life:

“No one should be trapped by safety,” the report concludes. “Fire safety and accessibility must go hand in hand.”

You may also be interested in our HAPPI Hour webinar, Safe by Design: Fire Safety in Housing, Architecture and Policy, which explored fire safety regulations, alternative design approaches, and resident communication. The University of Stirling joined us to mark three years of the ISPA project, with a focus on fire doors and resident safety.